Not for sale: Gary Davis pledges 12 new Malmaison and Hotel du Vin hotels in three years

Not for sale: Gary Davis, chief executive of Malmaison and Hotel du Vin, has denied reports the businesses could be sold following the administration of MWB Group Holdings

Gary Davis, chief executive of Malmaison and Hotel Du Vin, has committed to opening 12 new hotels in the next three years as he denied reports the businesses are up for sale following the administration of MWB Group Holdings.

"People are looking at us as one of the real successes in the UK hospitality industry. We have developers and funders looking at us and wanting to do deals with us constantly.

"We are brands that people look at and say, ‘if that brand was on my hotel and it was refurbished, it would outperform the market’ which we generally do across the country," he said.

The former De Vere Village chief executive revealed a deal had been signed to bring St Andrews Golf Hotel into the Hotel du Vin fold, with Stratford-upon-Avon, then possibly Oxford, next on the list for HDV.

Davis also expressed a desire to take the Hotel du Vin brand into the capital, while explaining Bristol and York were both target cities for Malmaison.

He did reveal, however, that a new bar was planned in properties in both Liverpool and Birmingham with new restaurants on the horizon in Manchester and London.

Davis expressed disappointment at the confusion caused by the trouble at MWB Group Holdings but said he was getting regular updates on the situation and had been aware of the problems before he took up post in January.​

"One of the reasons that I was approached was because of certain issues within the business that needed sorting out. The operations and the profitability of the hotel group were, I think, under-performing and I think they wanted somebody to come in and re-organise and re-focus.

"My appointment was always (with the) understanding that MWB had certain issues and that was one of my key issues – to make sure that wouldn’t impact the future of our businesses," he concluded, saying it was unclear what role Eric Sanderson, MWB chairman and chair of the hotel's board, would now have with the hotel business.